Relationship between Body Size and Lifestyle of Junior High School Students: Focus on Underweight and Overweight by Gender

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the lifestyle habits of underweight and overweight junior high school students.Methods: In June 2015, the Fukushima Prefectural Board of Education conducted a diet survey among 1,980 second-graders who attended 16 public junior high schools in the prefecture. We examined the relationship between lifestyle and body size (underweight: ≤-0%, standard: >-10% and <10%, overweight: ≥10%) using lifestyle habits as independent variables and body size as the dependent variable for each gender. Chi-square tests and multinomial logistic regression analysis were used.Results: Of all students, 1,904 replied (response rate: 96.1%). Among underweight boys, the odds of . On the other hand, for girls, the odds of eating snacks frequently were higher for the underweight group, and those of watching TV for a longer duration were higher for the overweight group.Conclusions: Eating slowly or normally and higher frequency of eating snack were related to underweight, and eating fast, lower frequency of eating snack, and less exercise were related to overweight among junior high school boys. Among girls, higher frequency of eating snack was related to underweight, and longer watching TV was related to overweight.Jpn. J. Nutr. Diet., 76 (3) 57～64 (2018)